Constantin Guys, *the Queen Of Sheba*, Wash Drawing

Constantin Guys, *La reine de Sabat*, a sepia wash titled *La reine de Sabat*. Signed lower right: C. Guys
Paper is worn but in good overall condition
Drawing framed under glass
Executed with great finesse
Dimensions without frame: 13 x 18 cm (visible area)
27,5 x 32 cm including frame
Free and insured shipping within mainland France



Constantin Guys was born into a family from La Ciotat; he was the son of François-Lazare Guys (1752–

1843), French vice-consul and naval commissioner, and Elisabeth Betin. At a very young age—barely 19 years old—he embarked in October 1821 in Marseille aboard a Danish ship, *Le Jupiter*, to take part in the Greek War of Independence; many members of his family, notably his father, had been traveling to the Levant for two centuries, as merchants or consular agents

Having survived the disaster at Péta in July 1822, he returned to France and disembarked at Toulon in December; Questioned by the police (as France at the time prohibited its citizens from participating in the insurrection), he was detained there until February 1823. He then enlisted in the army.

In 1830, he gained recognition in the arts through his drawings and lithographs. Throughout his life, he remained faithful to these two forms of expression, which enabled him to become a prolific chronicler of the life of his time.

In 1854 and 1855, he traveled to Crimea and illustrated the events of the Crimean War for the British magazine *The Illustrated London News*.

He was the dedicatee of Charles Baudelaire’s poem “Rêve parisien” (published in the collection *Les Fleurs du mal*). Baudelaire wrote about his work *Le Peintre de la vie moderne*, which can be considered an essay.